Blog

Sean Pertwee, Actor

Lovely. Mostly ...

Yes it’s that time of the year again. Fecund, fragrant, fabulous, fantastic ... oh stop it ..

On the very plus side, the Lilac has gone nuts again. It’s a brief and giddy time, walk amongst them at your peril. It’s almost too much.

On the minus, this is always a tense nail-biting start to the season, when our vines are at their most vulnerable. Mike and the boys have been losing sleep, heroically fighting frost on all fronts. So far, so good.

Meanwhile, the Boss is rumoured to be on a beach somewhere. KIDDING! He is on a beach, but working on the beach. To date this year – 3 movies, 2 miniseries, 6 one-hour Peaky Blinders episodes, and one 1 ½ hour documentary. No shirker, he.

Results just in

Here at Redbank, Keith, OC Animal Husbandry, (pictured right with Simon left) reports this is our best lambing season to date.

Our 14 ewes have produced between them 14 boys and 11 girls. Which makes a percentage oh say 175%. Or something like that. Phenomenal anyway. Well done, our girls!

The proud father is again this year, Israel Dagg.

Two Paddocks The Last Chance Pinot Noir. 92 points. Look for it in April 2015 Two Paddocks Nine Piglets. Looking cute now!

The crew very delighted with Stephen Tanzer results that arrived yesterday – all four Pinots from Two Paddocks are right up the pointy end of the point scale and we’re in some fairly esteemed company. The Proprietor thrilled with his vineyards, the viticultural team that curate them and the winemaking team who translate them. Results below.

Also exciting, beautiful and typically serene Two Paddocks Mummy Pig, Imogen Poots, had nine perfect babies two nights ago. (Mike the Viticulturist got short shift from Poots when trying to capture her new progeny on film and was catapaulted over the fence – who knew viticulture could be so “stunt man”?)

-- JM

Stephen Tanzer’s International Wine Cellar. Issue 176 Sept/Oct 2014

The Best Of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.

2012 Two Paddocks Pinot Noir Central Otago

89pts -- ($55) Moderately saturated, bright pale red.  Strawberry, flint, peppery herbs and smoke on the slightly reduced nose, plus a whiff of Burgundian underbrush.  Not a hugely fleshy or complex wine but penetrating, slightly peppery acidity frames and intensifies the flavors of strawberry, flint and saline minerality.  Nicely savory on the lingering finish, with a repeating peppery edge.

2011 Two Paddocks Pinot Noir Central Otago

90pts -- ($55) (vinified with 25% whole clusters and aged in 25% new French oak):  Moderately saturated palish red.  Wild, full-blown aromas of strawberry, raspberry, mocha, underbrush and caramel oak, plus hints of pepper and flint.  Sweet, concentrated and deep, with soil-driven red fruit flavors complicated by saline and spicy nuances.  This elegant, floral pinot finishes spicy and long, with a solid spine of ripe tannins contributing grip.

2011 Two Paddocks First Paddock Pinot Noir

91+pts -- ($75) (from a 1993 planting; fermented with 50% whole clusters and aged in 30% new French oak):  Medium red.  Complex, slightly reduced, soil-driven aromas of raspberry, truffley underbrush, smoke, pepper and game.  Round, ripe and fine-grained, showing a seamless texture to the flavors of red fruits, underbrush and smoky minerals.  This gained in nuance and texture with extended time in the recorked bottle without losing its verve.

2012 Two Paddocks The Last Chance Pinot Noir

92pts -- ($75) Good medium red.  Wild, soil-inflected aromas of red berries, pepper, underbrush, minerals and smoked meat; distinctly Old World in style--in fact, this reminded me a bit of northern Rhone syrah!  Sweet, ripe and smooth, with a slight positive funkiness adding appeal to the broad but lively red fruit, brown spice and rose petal flavors.  Lovely inner-mouth energy here, and good peppery, herbal lift.  Boasts better depth than most 2012 pinots from New Zealand.  Less salty and more fruit-driven than the basic 2012 release, finishing with more breadth and finesse, not to mention length.  Very sexy wine, and a big success for this--or any--vintage. TO BE RELEASED APRIL 2015

The Prop gets mildly shickered at famous London eatery.

And spills the beans again. Or slops the mince... You be the judge. Read on ...

In lieu of a further blog entry, the prop opens up with more inside gossip than you could shake a fork at.

Follow this link to the revealing article in The Observer.

 

Central Mission

Two Proprietors, Nigel Greening of Felton Road, and the former Nigel Neill of Two Paddocks, join forces for a day in Blighty.

Read all about it ...

Shocking candour

Well, maybe not your questions exactly, but The Australian was kind enough to do the following interview this weekend in their colour mag. Follow this link to read the unedited version ...

 

The big man speaks.

From the man himself: our Pinot, and the finer things in life.

Weird but true.

The thing about our cattle is, as part of our organic and biodynamic programme, we need them to ...well let’s not beat about the bush here, provide organic, um, poo. The Virtuous Circle, and all that.

And here are our new Highland miniatures, as much critters as cows, and on the job the moment they got off the bus. With the jobs.

Simon’s favourite job is poo gathering.

The other cows, sociable animals, have flash mobbed them from the start. It’s a gang. Ok, if anyone says "cute," that’s trouble right there.

In the world of the Pig

Sometimes kids just need putting in line, and it’s often up to fathers to take charge of the situation...

Look Away Children

Winter is upon us. You may not know this, but winter is a time of romance in the Pig World. Well, our pig world anyway. ––

So, Imogen Poots the Pig has trottered off to spend some quality time with her beau from down the road, Don. He’s a big fella Don. And very attentive to Poots.

She’ll probably have another few weeks honeymoon. And then it’s home again, and back to the good life.

In the meantime, animals of all stripes seem to be taking a keen interest in their marital affairs. One wonders what they think.